Los Angeles Lakers: Rajon Rondo is now a future buyout target after trade
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers have made a theme of bringing back former Lakers this offseason. In total, the Lakers signed four players who previously donned the purple and gold. Dwight Howard is back for his third stint while Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore and Wayne Ellington are all back for their second stint.
The Los Angeles Clippers saw this and seemingly took inspiration as they traded for a former Clipper in a deal that was confusing for them, to say the least. The Clippers traded Patrick Beverley, Rajon Rondo and Daniel Oturu to the Memphis Grizzlies for Eric Bledsoe.
There has been a bit of a running joke with Bledsoe as he has not been good in the NBA Playoffs and is definitely regressing at his age. While Rondo and Oturu were expendable for the Clippers, the team traded a huge fan favorite in Beverley for someone who doesn’t show up under the bright lights.
The main goal for Memphis was opening up future salary-cap space as the team essentially flipped Jonas Valanciunas for Steven Adams,
draft picks and now Rondo, Beverley and Oturu.
And all of this creates a path for the Los Angeles Lakers to bring back another former Laker as Rajon Rondo is now a potential future buyout target.
Why Rajon Rondo could become a buyout target for the Los Angeles Lakers:
Guard is heavily populated now for the Memphis Grizzlies, who would be better off trying to trade some of that depth at the deadline to a contender for future assets. There is no reason to hold onto Beverley and Rondo for an entire season.
Beverley is more likely to find a suitor just because of the defensive presence he brings to a team. Rondo, on the other hand, is making $7.5 million, which is a bit of an overpay at this stage of his career.
It is hard to see a contending team willing to trade assets for Rondo, especially considering they would have to trade an actual player in return because of the salary instead of a minimum player and a future pick.
Just look at the trades he has been involved in. He was flipped for Lou Williams, who is known to not show up in the playoffs, and then was lumped into a salary-dump trade that still does not make a lot of sense for the Clippers.
He has value, but finding a trade partner at his salary might be a hard task. Thus, the Grizzlies might be better off doing the agent a favor, saving some money, and buying him out at the deadline.
The Los Angeles Lakers are a bit crowded at point guard with Russell Westbrook and LeBron James being a de facto point guard. That being said, there is nothing wrong with having depth and having Rondo is a contingency plan if the Westbrook experiment starts to flame out.
If there is a moment where Westbrook is trying to play hero ball then Vogel would have the ability to sub him out for the experienced Rondo, who was really good in the 2020 NBA Playoffs. Rondo may or may not swing a moment in a game, but it helps to at least have the option.
The Lakers should be leaving an extra roster spot open for a potential buyout signing and there may not be that many great options. Surveying the landscape of the league, the only player to get really excited about is Kevin Love but the Cavaliers would have to commit to a two-year buyout like the Detroit Pistons did with Blake Griffin.
Outside of that, there really are not many other options that are much better than Rondo.
Next. Minimum signings that would have been perfect in LA. dark
It is no guarantee that Rondo gets bought out but it certainly is far more likely now than it was a few days ago. And if he is bought out, expect the Los Angeles Lakers to be among the teams interested.